Philadelphia Firefighter Killed, Others Injured in Building Collapse
A veteran Philadelphia firefighter was killed and several were injured after a fire building collapsed early Saturday morning.
Firefighters were called to the three-story building mixed-use building on the 300 block of West Indiana Avenue just after 2 a.m.
First Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy told the Philadelphia Inquirer it was a "pretty routine" fire that was under control when the collapse occurred at 3:24 a.m.
“You can’t predict this,” Murphy said. “This was just a catastrophic accident that has really hurt our department.”
Trapped by the collapse of the building with a pizza shop on the ground floor with apartments above were five firefighters and a city building inspector.
The trapped members were removed, with the last one being located around 7 a.m.
“At first it was just a lot of smoke so we thought there was a fire,” neighbor Wanda Rivera told the newspaper. “They put out the fire then we saw the firemen leaving. Then they came rushing back again.”
“It’s going to be a rough several weeks,” Murphy said.
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